"Mountains warming faster than plains"

From: Rocky Mountain News

Mountainous areas of the western United States have warmed faster than plains regions over the past two decades, new research at Boulder’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration labs shows.

Areas such as Colorado’s Front Range that depend on mountain snow pack for water supplies, are especially vulnerable, as snowmelt is beginning earlier with high elevation warming, according to the analysis by Henry Diaz of NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory.

"Our high mountains are like the third pole of the planet," Diaz said in a statement. "It’s the world’s coldest regions that are the most susceptible to warming."

Warming trends are 50 percent greater at higher elevations, the research found, and much of the western United States, including much of Colorado, rises above 5,000 feet.

Previous climate research has found snow melting and trees flowering in the Sierra Nevada, Cascades and other western mountain ranges two weeks earlier than 50 years ago. More beetle infestations and the movement of pine forests to higher elevations have also been documented, according to NOAA.

"Relatively small changes in global processes can produce large local changes in temperature and precipitation," Diaz said. "Resulting water shortages can be disastrous for communities a thousand miles away."

Another key finding was that actual temperature records analyzed in the study match computer models that projected faster warming at higher altitudes.

"Now the records are starting to show this acceleration," Diaz said....